The who-is-a-journalist and what-is-journalism discussion has a little more clarity in the United States following a recent appeals court ruling in Florida that says bloggers are members of the media for defamation law purposes. Mathew Ingram, writing for GigaOm, says the decision focuses on the act, not the specific title of the creator, in helping to define what journalism is.***Om Malik, the founder of GigaOm, has pulled back from operating the online entity in recent months to focus on projects, including insightful media commentary. He writes that the next successful media model will focus on "owning attention," but he cautions the concept hasn't emerged yet.***There is a very heated scrap under way between ABC News and the Center for Public Integrity over the awarding of a Pulitzer Prize to the latter without an acknowledgment of the former's involvement in a series of articles on black lung disease among coal miners. ABC has indicated the Center misled the Pulitzer board, while the Center has fired back and said ABC was a very minor participant. Dylan Byers of Politico has been keeping track of the dispute and regularly updating his blog to keep track.***

The Australian Broadcasting Corp. is taking the unusual step of conducting audits by those outside its organization on the presence of bias in its programs. The process will start with audits on radio program interviews with the prime minister and opposition leader in this year's election campaign, but spread to other shows and topics. ABC chairman Jim Spiegelman outlined the plans this week, and while he said he does not believe there is any systematic bias in the programs, he accepts there might be instances.

Huffington Post has followed through on its earlier announcement to end anonymous comments on its site. Tim Mcdonald, the director of community, announced the new comment process Tuesday as a measure to improve accountability and civility. Huffington Post had already moderated comments before they appeared. Users will be asked to sign in through their Facebook accounts and be required to use their real names to comment. Anyone fearful of retribution for their comments can request anonymity by applying through a form.

Beastie Boys have stepped up their legal action against the GoldieBlox toy maker for rewriting one of its songs and using it in a commercial without their permission. Gigaom reports the suit says the company did not seek rights to use the song and that its commercial exceeds what could be legally termed fair use of the material. The group is seeking any profits earned from the song. The case is an important one because it stands to clarify the fair use provision in the U.S.

For the Saturday-Sunday weekend of September 28-29, 2013, here are some media stories of note:

Seymour Hersh, the investigative journalist, says 90 per cent of editors should be fired, that organizations like NBC and ABC should be closed, and that journalists should be returned to their roles as outsiders. The Guardian reports he considers the state of American journalism "pathetic" because of its general unwillingness to be an unpopular messenger of truth.

Earlier this week Popular Science banned online comments on its site. It argued they hurt debate and influenced public opinion in such a way as to affect how science was financed. But Alexis Sobel Fitts, writing for the Columbia Journalism Review, argues that Popular Science isn't actually interpreting science properly. The research it cited to ban comments didn't conclude what the publication said it did and didn't prove the impact of comments was so serious.

The Guardian reports on the final stretch of the long run toward new forms of press regulation in Britain. It notes that an October 9 meeting of the British privy council committee on culture will evaluate an industry proposal on self-regulation or a much more formidable one that enjoys all-party backing.

The New Statesman repurposes a well-received post from George Brock, the head of the City University of London's journalism department, on why newspapers and journalism are not in the trouble some believe. He thinks people still love reading ink on paper, that the revolution is really an evolution with several precedents, that adaptation for video and mobile will be necessary, but that ultimately the craft will survive this creative destruction.